Our natural environment

Across the world, human behaviour is having a significant impact on the natural environment. Through climate change and the destruction of habitats, human beings are:

• driving the loss of biodiversity
• damaging the ecosystems that we depend upon

In Stirling, we're taking a range of actions to address this type of behaviour and support our natural environment. These include:

• creating natural flood management features
• increasing tree cover
• strengthening habitat networks

By taking these actions, we're:

• investing in our natural environment
• helping to adapt to climate change impacts
• making sure that Stirling and Scotland remain on target to become 'net zero carbon' by 2045

The Alive with Nature Plan aims to put nature at the heart of life in the Stirling area.

The plan outlines our vision to transform the Stirling area into Scotland's greenest region, where our thriving natural environment is enjoyed and valued by everyone.

Development of the plan was led by officers from:

• Stirling Council
• NatureScot
• the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
• Green Action Trust

We refined all elements of the plan through consultation with members of the public. This consultation work took place between 23 June and 27 December 2021.

Under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004, we have a duty to further the conservation of biodiversity whilst carrying out our responsibilities.

Also, in line with the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011, we must publish reports on the actions we’ve taken to do this. We need to publish these reports every 3 years, and make sure they're available to the public.

Reports on our activities

Read official summaries of the actions we’ve taken to meet our biodiversity duty.

Following extensive consultation, we developed 'A Vision for Stirling River Park'. This is our ambitious, practical plan for creating a unique, world-class city park in Stirling.

A Vision for Stirling River Park explains how we’ll transform the river corridor into a recreational and environmental asset at the heart of the city. By doing this, we’ll create a high-quality open space that will:

• improve the relationship of Stirling with its river
• connect heritage sites
• offer unique views
• support a range of outdoor activities for local people and visitors to enjoy

We have ambitious tree-planting targets, and are working with partners and landowners to achieve them.

In 2021, as part of a project at Kildean, we:

• planted 3,300 native trees
• created 12 new wildlife ponds

In 2022, we worked with landowners and partners to plant trees and hedgerows on council and non-council land. As part of this initiative, we:

• created over 2km of new native hedgerow
• planted over 15,000 native trees

We worked with NatureScot and the University of Stirling to take aerial photographs of the urban tree canopy across the city of Stirling.

The data from this project will help us to plant more trees in areas that currently have low canopy cover. This targeted approach to tree planting will help to address some of the impacts of climate change, by:

• providing more shade in urban areas
• slowing the flow of rainfall